Rinky the Cat

Last night I was out on a bike ride, from Monda to Tolox. About 8:30 PM, I was on my way back, and had just turned the corner at junction to Guaro. My eye caught what looked like a mouse on the side of the road. As I approach, I saw it was a little abandoned kitten.

I hopped off the bike, but it ran off the road, and into a pile of large rocks. It was obviously pretty scared.

After waiting 10 minutes, I decided to continue on.

The ride back, I kept thinking how often our daughter has wanted a pet. We’ve considered grass-hoppers, spiders and even a lizard we caught this weekend. But each time we’ve gone to Agro-Jardin, she’s left crying for a kitten.

When I arrived back at the car, parked just north of Monda, I decided to head back out, and see if by chance the kitten had emerged. It was dark by then, and with so many cars, going so fast, I figured the poor thing had little chance. I also imagined the chances were quite small of even finding it.

But when I arrived at the junction, the headlights revealed a small little clump in the middle of the road — crouching, crawling and meowing for mama. I parked, got out, and watched it run off into a bush. But it was so scared by this point it couldn’t stop meowing, and, finally, after sitting for 20 minutes, it crawled out and walked over.

I put her in the car, and on the way home she explored the entire cabin. She walked over the seats, over the armrest, front to back, over my head, and even across the dashboard.

It’s going to require some hard negotiating with the wife, but the daughter is love, and the kitten seems healthy and happy. Welcome to family, Rinky the Cat.

UPDATE: It’s a girl. Went to the vet today, didn’t even get halfway in the door when she announced, “Oh, it’s a girl!”. I said her eyesight must be pretty good, being able to determine that from 5 meters away. She said all tri-color cats are girls. What do you know!